The Dumb Waiter was written in 1957 and first performed in German in Frankfurt in 1959, with its first English-language production at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1960. It is a one-act play of approximately fifty minutes — a compressed masterpiece that contains, in miniature, all the elements of Pinter’s dramatic method: menace from an unknown source, linguistic games that mask and reveal power relationships, and the terrifying convergence of the ordinary and the inexplicable.
Ben and Gus are two hitmen waiting in a basement room for instructions about their next job. Ben reads his newspaper and discusses items in it; Gus makes tea, goes to the lavatory, complains about conditions. Their dialogue is simultaneously banal and charged with tension — the power dynamic between the senior man (Ben, who reads the paper and gives orders) and the junior (Gus, who asks questions and expresses doubt) is enacted through every exchange.
A dumb waiter — a service elevator for passing food between floors — suddenly activates, sending down orders for increasingly elaborate dishes: “Two braised steak and chips. Two sago puddings. Two teas without sugar.” The men, bewildered, attempt to send up food (a bag of crisps, a bar of chocolate). The orders become more exotic (“One Bamboo Shoots, Water Chestnuts and Chicken. One Char Siu and Beansprouts”). The mechanism establishes that someone is above them, watching, demanding — but who? The play’s ending — Gus enters from the door, stripped of his holster, and faces Ben with his revolver raised — reveals with horrible economy who the target is.
Collecting The Dumb Waiter
First edition (in The Birthday Party and Other Plays, Methuen, London, 1960): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First Methuen collection (containing The Dumb Waiter): $75–$200
- Separate editions (later): $15–$40
- Signed copies: $150–$400